Improvement in cigar-molds



JOHN PRENTICE. Improvement in Cigar-Molds. N0. 115,101. i I Patented May 23,1871.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN PRENTIUE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO LOUIS PRENTIOE, OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CIGAR-MOLDS..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 115,101, dated May 23, 1871.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JO'HN PRENTICE, of the city and State of New York, have invented and made an Improvement in Cigar-Molds; and the following is declared to be a correct description thereof.

In Letters Patent No. 85,764 a mold is shown for cigars or bunches to retain the moist tobacco and give a proper shape to the cigars or bunch, and molds have been made for cutting and shaping both the cigar iiller or bunch and the cigar itself.

This invention is an improvement upon the aforesaid patent, and consists in combining with the shaping-mold a cutter that acts to form the tip end of the bunch and a lifter to remove the tobacco from this mold, so that it may be taken and inserted into a mold that retains it in the proper shape until sufciently dry to be handled with ease while the wrapper is being placed thereon, and which molds may also be used for keeping the cigar itself in a proper shape while being dried.

In the drawing, Figure l is a longitudinal section of the mold as closed. Fig. 2 is a plan of the lower mold. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the mold as closed. Fig.'l 4 is a side view of the lower mold. Fig. 5 is a plan open, and Fig. 6 is a cross-section closed, of the mold in which the cigar or bunch is placed while drying, the latter gure being in an enlarged size.

lhe bed a of the machine receives the lower half b of the mold, at the sides of which are flanges c o, forming a trough adapted to receive and hold the loose tobacco, while the upper half d of the mold 'is being brought down upon said tobacco to compress the same into shape. This mold d is mounted upon a center pin, e, so as to be swung by a handle, j', of any suitable shape.

The operator, by experience, becomes familiar with the amount of tobacco required for making the cigar or bunch, and places the same between the flanges o c, and none of the tobacco requires to be cut off at this point; but in order to give a proper shape to the end or tip of the cigar the tobacco is cut oft' between the knives or cutting-edges that are made at 2 and 3, upon the V-shaped or pointed ends of the molds b and d. One or both of these edges 2 and 3 may extend more or less along the molds b d andbe inclined so as to act with a shearing cut, or they may come together like dies or nippers to pinch off the surplus tobacco. These molds may be made of any suitable material and detachable, so that different sizes may be used in the same machine; or they maybe made in groups of two or more together; and the knives or cuttingedges 2 3 should be separate and attached by screws, so that they can be replaced or sharpened.

In the bottom of the mold b a groove is formed, into which the lifting-finger i is laid, and in a normal position the upper surfaces coincide 5 but when the mold is opened the finger i is raised by the heel or cam k upon the rear end of the lower portion of the mold d, taking the rear end Z of the lever carrying the liftingfinger t'. The cigar bunch or iillin g is taken from the molds aforesaid and laid in the molds m u, so as to dry sufficiently for handling.

The molds m a are made of pewter or other suitable material, and hinged together at one Y end, and made with a cavity of the same shape but somewhat largerpthan the space between the molds b d; and I find that an elastic band, p, is preferable for holding the molds together while the cigar or filling is being dried.

The mold should be perforated with numerous small holes, so as to allow of the escape of vapor and the more rapid drying of the ci gar or filling. These perforations may be made in the metal of the mold in any convenient manner.

I nd that a mold for holding the cigar itself, when completed, may be advantageously made out of perforated sheet-tin, the same bcin g light and cheap. The cavity of these molds m a being larger than that of the molds b d the filling can expand sufficiently to allow of the cigar smoking easily 5 whereas, if the fill ing were retained in the mold b d it would be too much consolidated. The elastic band allows the mold to yield slightly, according to the expansive power of the cigar or filling, thus rendering the density of the cigar uniform.

The inner edges of one ofthe molds should be beveled or inclined, as shown at o o, in order that there may not be any feather produced by the pressure of the molds on the cigar or ijlling, and the cigar or iilling should be placed in the molds m u with the cut edges of the filling not in line with the division be-l tween the molds m n.

I claim as my inventionl. The flanges c c at the sides of the mold b, in combination Awith the mold d and the cutters 2 and 3 for shaping the tip, as and for .the purposes specified.

2. The lifting-finger z', applied to and combined with the molds b d, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The molds m u, of a shape to receive the lling or cigar, and hinged together, in com- 

